More of a cat person? Just a couple doors down from the National Museum of Natural Science is Gulu Cat Cafe, which offers generously-sized drinks and cute desserts along with jazz music and free-roaming cats. The kitties waltz between the cat-themed furniture and pillows as patrons enjoy the shop's signature chocolate cake decorated with a white and strawberry paw print. Other desserts include colorful Pokemon cakes shaped like pokeballs and popular characters like Pikachu and Jigglypuff. Other must-try items here are the tea and coffee lattes, which come with 3D cat latte art. Customers can choose to top their drinks (NT$160-200) with either one, two or even three foam-crafted felines, and the exquisitely decorated lattes come with hot, cold and even organic options. Also for sale are cat marshmallows to top your handmade drinks with, as well as cat decorations, mugs, cups and bowls decorated with Gulu, the cafe's famous cat.

Terrier Sweets

(04) 2319-8852
52, MingYi St, West Dist
Hours: 12-8 pm

Soft acoustic music drifts through this shop as you make difficult decisions regarding which beautifully-crafted dessert to sample. The house specialty Lemon Tart (NT$120) is a must-try, with other popular items including the adorable mushroom log and bird's nest pastries. The Moony Pastry keeps with the store's whimsical, woodsy theme and looks like magical forest topped with gold. Other enticing choices include spherical cakes decorated with tiny flowers, such as the Mont Blanc cake filled with a chestnut and vanilla mousse. The Young Lady cake has a pink, sparkling exterior surrounding a fruity mousse, cherry and nutty filling, all balanced on buttery crust. Outside the shop, the owner's terriers frolic in their play pen and relax in a quaint, wooden dog cottage. These dogs are star attractions here, so visit early before they retire upstairs for the evening.

Toutou Cuisine

(04) 2310-8102
5, JingCheng 2nd St, West Dist
Hours: 1-7 pm

The chic, cosmopolitan surroundings of Toutou Cuisine are the last place one would expect to encounter a wild jungle cat. Yet one of the most popular pastries here is the carefully-painted Leopard Print Cheesecake (NT$130). Flavored with real vanilla beans, the rich and creamy cheesecake is a perfectly-sweetened treat with the added fun of chocolate-flavored spots. Another popular dessert is the Rainbow Panna Cotta (NT$160) on a graham cracker crust, also available as a larger cake (NT$950). Its swirling berry and yogurt mixture is topped with colorful sprinkles and plated with festive neon sugar dots, with each bite creating a new abstract work of art from the pattern of colors. The tart, fruity flavors are refreshing and the dessert is not overly-sweet despite its cute rainbow appearance. Toutou's adorable desserts are as well-designed in taste as they are in aesthetics.

Forest Soft Serve

0955-208-460
155, YuDe Rd, North Dist
Hours: 12-9 pm (closed Tue)

At Forest Soft Serve, the creative interior design and adorable delicacies allow you to indulge your love of both desserts and cute woodland critters. Inside the shop, patches of grass and simple wooden furniture give the impression of a modern cottage in the woods. The signature soft serve ice cream is made with Hokkaido milk imported from Japan and comes in vanilla or matcha flavors. The Macaron Ice Cream parfait includes corn flakes and popcorn and is topped with a cute macaron of your choice. Customers can select from painted or sculpted macrons shaped like foxes, pigs, bunnies, red pandas, puppies, cats, bears, flowers, mushrooms and more, with each intricately-decorated one having a different flavor (NT$140). Besides ice cream, there are hot drinks (like coffee made from imported Italian Caffe Vergnano 1882 beans) that can be topped with cute marshmallows shaped like a polar bear, baby seal, or matcha duck (NT$145).